Bus appeal in Elizabeth Brown death probe

Police investigating the discovery of a woman's body in woods are taking the bus she may have used to Cumbria in an appeal for information.

Elizabeth "Betty" Brown, 56, was last seen alive on Friday 28 May last year on the No 3 bus in Nicholson Street, Edinburgh.

She is then thought to have taken money from an RBS cash machine on the same road shortly afterwards, at about noon.

Her body was discovered in woods, near Longtown, Cumbria, on 18 January.

Ms Brown's last known movement was the cash withdrawal on Nicholson Street.

Cumbria Constabulary said Ms Brown had family in the Gretna area and when visiting them she would get the X95 bus from Edinburgh to Longtown, getting off at the Graham's Arms from where she would be picked up.

On the day she was last seen, she was carrying two large black Aldi bags which were discovered near the spot where her body was found.

We are treating her death as suspicious until we know otherwiseDet Chief Insp Jeff Ashton, Cumbria Constabulary

Earlier, officers from Cumbria Constabulary and Lothian and Borders Police travelled on all X95 buses between Edinburgh and Carlisle, showing passengers pictures of Ms Brown and the Aldi bags in an attempt to jog memories and help establish her movements, especially to the Longtown area.

Local officers are also targeting Longtown, issuing posters and leaflets in an effort to find any witnesses who may have seen Ms Brown before she died.

Det Chief Insp Jeff Ashton, of Cumbria Constabulary's major investigation team, said: "It is entirely possible that she did get the X95 bus on or around the 28 May last year and for some reason never got to her intended destination in Gretna.

"We need people to come forward with any possible sightings of Betty or anything else that might help us in our investigation into this poor woman's death.

"Not only do we want the answers but her family deserve to know what happened to her.